in the Dark
by megtries
Summary: When the team gets kidnapped and are forced to live through their fears, Tony helps them along, but who will help him when it's his turn?
It was times like these that Tony couldn't figure out why he thought being a superhero was a good idea. Not only was he constantly getting hurt and putting Pepper in danger, he himself was prone to maniacs and other psychotic people and beings attempting to either kill him, kidnap him, hurt him, or, in the current circumstance, traumatize him. At least he wasn't alone… well, that could be seen as a good thing or a bad thing. You see, he and his team (more like a boy band of superhero lackies) were in a locked cell together. Making up the walls were what Tony has figured out to be screens. There were also little holes near the top of the walls, which he came to the conclusion that they could be used to pump gases, or liquids, into the room. Great, right? No doors were seen, and it was dark, but not pitch, much to his relief. At that moment, only 3 of the 6 of them were conscious, Tony the most recent to the land of the living. Steve and Natasha were talking to each other, trying to figure out where they were and what was happening. They seemed to have missed him moving , so he announced his presence.

"Uuuugh, I thought my days of waking up in strange places were over." Steve sighed.

"Stark, status."

"Well, aside from waking up in a dimly lit cold room- not appreciated, btdubs- and a lil' headache, I'm just peachy. You?"

"We're both fine." Natasha answered.

"Ok, I only have two questions-"

"Only two?" Steve asked, his exasperation towards the genius evident.

"Well, only two that matter right now.. is anyone else awake in here, and what is here?"

"Just me and Steve-"

"Steve and I" Tony corrected, which Widow ignored.

"And were not sure. Any guesses?"

"Okay, well… the walls look like they can be used for manipulation, see the screeny things and the holes, and based on the fact that we're all just piled in here sleeping, they're probably waiting for us to all wake up before they start."

"Start what?" Steve questioned.

"By my guess, some kind of torture, and not for imformation… for fun." They were about to interrogate Stark more about what he meant, but Clint decided to wake up with a groan.

"Uuuugh," He looked around "Tony, what did you do?" The billionaire stuck his hands straight up in the air.

"Why do you just assume that I did something?"

"Cuz you're always doing something."

"Okay, true, but this time it wasn't my fault." He dropped his hands.

"This time."

"Yeah, okay, I admit that other time, it was me, but this time it's not." Clint sat up, only to see Steve standing against a wall across the room arms crossed, Natasha sitting against the wall next to himself, and Stark laying on his back in the center of the room, one hand running through his hair and the other sprawled out snow angel style next to him. He scooted back and rested against the wall next to Tasha.

"Suuure."

"Ugh, why do I even bother with you people." The archer began to say a witty comeback when Bruce groaned, mimicking his and Clint's wake up.

"Uuuugh… " He propped himself up on his elbows. "Tony, what did you do?"

"Why does everyone assume I did something?" He yelled, which must have woken Thor, who jolted upright and looked around.

"What is the meaning of this? Friend Anthony, was this your doing?" He bellowed.

"Seriously, you too? I'll let you all know this was in no way my fault. Do none of you remember what happened?" They all nodded, which Tony was still laying down, so he didn't see. He took their silence as an answer, though. "None of you remember how we were all eating pizza, it was really good pizza too, and those guys came in through the window and knocked you all out with gas?"

"Really?" Steve asked.

"Yeah, except one of my suits came and covered me before I passed out, which I fought this dudes in for a while before they short circuited it and knocked me out. Fun times." Here, he sat up, now showing his face for the first time to his teamm revealing a cut dripping blood from his forehead and a bruise lining his jaw.

'Dude, why didn't you say anything?" Clint asked the same time Steve said, "Tony, you should have reported that" and Natasha said "Idiot" and Bruce just sighed.

"Ugh, you're all so annoying. Look, we can worry about my beautiful face later, for now, however, now that we are all awake, the jerks who took us are going to start." Before half of them could ask 'start what?' The lights shut off and the room was submerged in darkness, Tony panicked realizing a heaving gauze was covering the glow of his arc reactor. Nothing could be seen, and it was suffocating him.

"Oh shoot." Tony muttered loudly. They could only nod in agreement. The temperature of the room started to quickly drop, causing all those who were actually normal people to shiver. "Oh shoot" Tony repeated. The lights slowly came back on, but now in an icy blue hue. Tony slowed his breathing down. That was beginning to feel way too much like a cave. Stark didn't do caves. He looked around the room. Clint, Natasha, Bruce and Thor looked surprisingly calm, of course, they didn't have a traumatizing experience with cold and darkness. Steve, however, looked on the brink of a panic attack. It didn't help when the room was all of a sudden filled with sounds of airplanes and jets. Steve slid to the ground, fists clenched. The soldier was about to break.

"Hey Stevie," Tony broke the tension of the room, "Did I ever tell you about this time my dad bought a poster of you." While he inwardly cringed while talking about his father, it seemed to snap Steve out of his slight blank out.

"I.. I thought you didn't like to talk about Howard." He almost flinched but he didn't. He had to help Steve, even if he had to suffer. Howard was a comfort to Steve, and it would help him through this.

"Well, it's about time I told you about my goofy old man. So, we were at some store, I don't remember which one" mainly because he was making this all up "and we were walking around when all of a sudden we stumbled upon this whole Captain America section. They had action figures, tee-shirts, even underwear, Cap, but when my dad found this poster, he was all like 'this will be mine!' I tried to talk him out of it, but he was so set on buying it. Actually, he bought all of the posters in the store, and then everything else in the section." Tony went on about how his dad was called crazy and almost lost all his money because he spent it all on merchandise, even bought little Tony some Captain America pajamas, as if his dad would ever get him anything. He told story after story about the great Howard Stark, and Steve ate it all up. He must have been sitting there talking for hours, but eventually, the lights turned back to the normal shade of pale brightness and the temperature went back to normal and the only thing that could be heard through the room was Tony's exciting and humorous tales. Cap would be crushed if he knew they were all lies. Finally Tony ran out of stories to give, and the room was left in a weird yet comforting silence. That was, however, until it turned pitch black once again. Tony panicked a little.

"Really, again?" He flinched when a scream filled the room. It was one of a little girl, obviously hysterical, but then it cut off. Tony looked around. Most of the team looked confused, and maybe even a little scared, wondering if it was their turn to be horrified, but he noticed Widow frozen and Clint move closer to her, trying to comfort her. Gas pumped into the room and the smell of death and blood filled their noses. Nothing could be seen, and nothing could be heard over the screams, that was until Tony started to loudly sing.

" _Somewhere, over the rainbow, way up high. There is a land that I heard of once in a lullaby_!" He was practically yelling to be heard above the screams, however it served it purpose. He slowly laid back down and shut his eyes, blocking out the pitch black with his own self given isolation. Clint joined him in the next verse.

" _Somewhere over the rainbow, skies are blue, and the dreams that you dare dream, really do come true_!" Steve and Thor laughed at their horrible tune. Thor didn't know the words, but he gladly improved at humming along, adding to the monstrosity of it all. Steve joined them also.

" _One day I'll wish upon a star and wake up where the clouds are far behind me_!" No one knew the words now, they all just sang gibberish. " _Duh, duh dum dum duh la la la la , da da da da da da da dum dum That's where you'll find me_!"

"Take it away Bruce!" Tony yelled. Bruce seemed to hesitate in the darkness, but bellowed over the child's screams.

" _Somewhere, over the rainbow, Bluebirds fly"_ They all cheered, even Natasha, who joined them for the last part.

" _Birds fly, over the rainbow, why then oh why can't !_!" They all clapped and hollered and laughed, but soon it died out and the screams filled the room again.

" _If I got locked away, If I lost it all today, tell me honestly_ ," Tony started to yell and they all joined.

" _Would you still love me the same_!" Still panicking slightly at the darkness, Tony sang until the screams died out, maybe an hour or two. At some points, like when a broken and terrible scream came louder than ever, only he was the one singing, shouting with all his voice to try and drown it out. They sang old songs, modern ones, even '99 bottles of beer on the wall.' Tony was always the one to start it. Even near the end, when his throat was burned raw, he still sang. Everyone else had given up, to tired and scared and confused, but he always kept it up, his voice scratchy by the end. Finally the yells stopped, and lights faded back on, and Tony breathed a painful sigh of relief. He opened his eyes, and looked at his team, pleased to find they were all smiling, especially Natasha. He unclenched his hands, trying not to wince as his nails dug out of his palms, knowing they were bleeding, and then unclenched his jaw and smiled back from his relaxed position lying on the floor. They had about two minutes of peace before the lights dimmed once again, into darkness.

"I officially hate everything." Tony sighed. The smell of beer filled the room. Tony tried his hardest to breath but felt like he was going to throw up. Yells of a man came crashing through the room and Tony flinched and gagged, but knew this wasn't his challenge. He had overcome things more traumatizing than his dad. This must be-

"Oh man." Came a whisper from Clint. The lights glowed on, darker that the usual glow, but still enough to see Clint's expression. He knew what Clint felt. Tony was shaking almost as bad as Clint, and he guessed he was just as pale too. Stark lifted himself up from the ground and walked over to Clint, who fliched, earning him a glare from Natasha, but her eyes softened as she saw his expression of fear, discomfort, and understanding, and she nodded. He went right up to Clint and hugged him. Now, Tony Stark was not a very physical guy, in fact, he hated to be touched, but his teammate needed him. He knelt there in an embrace for a while, until Clint whispered in his ear, almost laughing, "You too, man?" Tony nodded.

"Dad's stink." He told Clint, who laughed in approval. He pulled away from the hug, staring at each other's stricken faces. "Hey Clint," The archer smirked.

"Yeah, Tony?"

"Yo mama's so fat, she sat on a Stark-phone and made it a Stark-pad." The archer gave a quick burst of a laugh, and Tony even saw Natasha smirk a little.

"You know, it's supposed to be an Iphone into an Ipad?" He jested.

"Ugh, but Stark phones are _way_ better than Iphones." He turned around from where he was sitting in front of Clint and sat, back against the wall, next to him, so the whole room could hear him over the yelling.

"Yo Mama's so fat, all she wanted for christmas was to see her feet." Steve literally burst out laughing, and so did Clint, and Natasha even giggled a little. This time, Clint went.

"Yo mama's so fat, even Dora couldn't explore her." They all laughed. Thor tried.

"You're mother is so large that the Frost giants in my realm thought she was their queen." No one understood, and Thor explained. "For frost giants, they choose the largest of their kind for the queen." Even though it wasn't that funny, they laughed anyway to make him feel better.

"Yo mama's so fat she did a belly flop and two weeks later they found water on mars." Bruce said. Everyone, especially Tony, who loved it when his science bro made a joke, cracked up.

"Yo mama's so fat she's at risk of diabetes." Natasha said with a straight face, and everyone laughed even though it was a fact and not a joke.

"Was that an anti joke?" Tony looked at her and she noded. "Oh man, I love anti jokes!" They told each other jokes for what seemed like forever, their laughter far louder than the yells of the angry men. It made Clint and Tony forget about their dad's for a bit and remember their real family, the one that was with them now. A lot of the times there would be a lull in jokes, no one could think of any, but Tony was always ready, always on edge, and always ready to relieve the tension with a laugh. The lights went back to normal and the yells ended, the smell of beer drifted from the room. They sat for awhile, still telling jokes, until the lights abruptly shut off once again.

"You know, this really isn't even phasing me anymore." Which was a complete lie. His heart race increased once again. They sat there in darkness for a few minutes, but soon, a word filled the screens of the walls sitting in blood red. 'Murderer". The roar of the hulk filled the room. They sat in silence and a dark stillness. Every minute or so, the roar would come on again. It was still pitch black except for the red wording. Tony knew that Bruce was probably freaking out, he had to save his science bro.

"Everyone close your eyes." He knew that Bruce's already were, like his. "We're gonna play a weird version of Marco Polo, except none of us can see. If you get tagged, then you're it. Got it? Good. I'll be it first. Marco!" He held his hands up and wandered around the room as he heard a chorus of 'Polo's. The played for a while, Tony trying not to pass out because of the suffocating darkness. He stumbled around, reminding him way too much of trying to work in a dark cave, but he played on anyway. He got Thor first, who laughed, and then Thor got Bruce, who to everyone's relief, also laughed. They played and played until the words came off and the sounds of the Hulk stopped echoing and the lights slowly came back on. Tony looked around. Natasha apparently hadn't moved the entire time, just sat there on the floor laughing and yelling Polo. Steve was in the middle of the room, the last one who was it. Bruce was standing close to Tony, and Thor was across the room.

"Alright, cool. So it's just me and Thor left. Wanna bet whose first?" The spent some time telling each other who they thought, and even bet their choices for a movie on movie night for it. About half an hour later, sounds of screams came into the room. Everyone froze, except Thor, who jumped up from where everyone was sitting in a circle.

"Loki?!" He yelled. Then another yell came. "Father?" And another "Mother?!" It became even worse as the screams turned into Steve's, Tony's, Natasha's, Clint's, and Bruce's. Thor began pacing the room. There was no way Tony could convince them that they were all fine, he wouldn't listen. Maybe that's not what he needed, though. Tony stood up, then fell onto the ground cursing, the team started to run towards him, but he shot a look in everyone but Thor's direction and they understood, letting the god arrive there first.

"Tony, are you alright?" Tony tried to get up, gripping Thor's shirt, who helped him.

"Yeah big guy, I'm fine." He slurred, faking a concussion. Bruce caught on.

"I think he has a concussion, Thor." Tony fell against him, yawning.

"I'm just gonna go sleep now." He started to shut his eyes, hoping that Bruce would continue pretending like he was. He did.

"Don't let him fall asleep, Thor!" Thor shook Tony who opened his eyes and glared at the god with a relaxed smile. They slowly sat on the ground, Tony clinging on to him. Thor flinched at a new scream and Tony held him tighter. Ugh, all this contact again. Hopefuly it would work and be worth it. He hated being coddled.

"Hey Thor? Will you tell me a story?" The rest of the team tried really hard not to laugh at how serious Tony was being and how good of an actor he was. Tony was so uncomfortable. He felt helpless and weak.

"Of course, Friend Stark." He went on to tell tales of Asgard, still flinching at the screams of his friends and family, but not as bothered by it. Tony sat there being hugged for what seemed like ever, until the yelling stopped. As soon as he was sure that the session was over, he pushed himself off of Thor, then looked at Clint, Steve, and Bruce.

"Thor was next, which means Tasha, Thor and I get to choose the next movie." They smirked at him and Thor looked at him confused.

"You were not concussed?" Before Tony could say no, Bruce chimed in.

"Actually, yes, he is, but not that bad. He was trying to comfort you, like he did everyone else." Tony smiled innocently. Inside, however, he was panicking. He was next. What would they choose? Just leave him in the dark and cold? Something like Clint's? Call him a murderer like Bruce? Screams like Thor and Widow's? He thought about everything they could do to him for hours. They sang a little, and then they told more jokes, eventually however, they one by one got up and paced, another member standing up as the other sat down. Eventually Steve became curious.

"Tony, what do you think is going to happen?" Tony just shrugged. He was back to his position in the middle of the room, laying on the floor staring at the ceiling.

"Where do you think SHIELD is? SHouldn't they have came and got us by now, I know we're secretly Fury's favorite." Steve sighed. They waited another half hour.

"Seriously Tony, maybe we can prepare for it. What's your fear?" Clint asked. How could he explain to them that there were just too many options. He sat up.

"Dude, I don't know." Another 15 minutes. This time Bruce asked.

"Tony, if you have any ideas-"

"Oh my gosh, I don't know, stop asking me!" They sat in silence for a couple more minutes. "Okay, so my dad, obviously, could be one, but Legolas over here already had that, and they probably won't repeat it. Cold and darkness, yelling, oh, maybe like, a bomb or something, something with my reactor, something with shocks, yelling in different languages would probably freak me out, they could call me out for killing a ton of people, they could-"

"So pretty much anything?" Steve asked.

"Yes, pretty much anything." So, they sat and waited. A few more hours passed. Nothing happened. Then everything happened. The lights shut off and the words came on and screams and yells and the smell of beer filled the room. The words murdered changed to merchant of death and the man yelled 'Not good enough', 'Failure' over and over. No one did anything for a few moments. Nobody could see or hear anything. Tony felt numb, and he tensed up.

"Well, this stinks." He yelled as loud as he could to be heard.

"Tony…" They were obviously concerned.

"What? I just went through this all with you guys. It's fine." All of sudden the noises shut off. The lights slowly came on, and they saw his cringed face. He loosened it quickly. "That wasn't that-" Then water started rushing through the holes in the tops of the walls. His heart thumped in his chest. He looked around frantically at the flowing water. How did they know? He never told anyone what happened when he was in captivity. They knew about the freaking waterboarding. The only way- no. it couldn't be. He gasped as words fluttered on the screen. 'Die Stark- The ten rings.'

"Oh God." He whispered. The ground was covered by a thin layer of water.

"Who are the ten rings?" Steve asked.

"You're hydrophobic?" Clint asked.

"Bastards." Natasha muttered. He looked at them each with a look of pure terror, then, being the actor he is, played it off.

"What the heck? These guys are weirdos. 'Oh, no! Water! I'm melting!

"Why would they think you're scared of water… are you scared of water?" Clint asked. Natasha, being the only one who read his real file, not the one he programmed into SHIELD, spoke up.

"Yes, he is. Don't deny it Stark. Remember the day at the lake" When the team looked at them confused, she explained. "Torture." They looked at him.

"Wait, you were tortured? Your file never said that. We knew you were kidnapped, but they tortured you? For what?" Steve rambled, angry.

"To make weapons. I had a week to live, so they wanted me to make a missile. I said no. Then said yes, and used to materials to make a suit, Iron Man Mark I."

"Bro, what the heck. Why did you have a week to live?" Clint asked and Tony pointed to his chest.

"Arc reactor. Used to be a car battery. Used as a magnet to keep shrapnel of a bomb that exploded next to me from reaching my heart."

"What does this have to do with the water?" Speaking of which it was about 2 inches above his ankle when Thor asked.

"I dunno. Thier idiots of they think a weird message and some water is gonna scare me." The water started coming faster. "Real idiots." It came up to his thighs. He started to panic. Which meant he started to ramble. "You know, if there was an award for being the biggest idiots, they would get it. Like, they take the cake of idiocy, heck, they take the whole idiocy bakery. These know-nothings are just some jerks, you know. Like, what are they thinking. What even is this. Why-" It was up to his knees. Suddenly he couldn't breath. He started to gasp. A strong hand appeared on his shoulder. He looked at Steve.

"Tony, it's okay."

"No, it's not freaking okay! Oh god. I can't breath!" He fell forward, but Clint caught him.

"Look man, it's fine, look at me, we got you." Bruce was right next to him.

"In and out, Tony, we're gonna get out of here"

"The" Breath. "The wa-" gasp "Water. Water boarding." The team cringed, thinking of how the water must have been when dripping onto the live wires in his chest. The flood was up to his waist. Before he knew it, he was all of a sudden on Cap's shoulders, not even touching the water. "What the heck?"

"Just calm down Tony. You're a genius, remember? So think." Tony nodded. He thought. The water was grazing his feet now, up to Steve's waist.

"Okay, there has to be a door somewhere. There seems to be a small seam in that wall over there, about the right size of a door. There's probably a panel hidden somewhere too." He looked around and pointed. "There, rip that off and there should be a panel." Thor walked over. The water was about up to his ribs. He did what Tony told him, and sure enough, there was a panel. Stark took a deep breath. "Let me down." Steve hesitated.

"Are you sure?"

"I have to get to that panel and hack it."

"Bruce can do it, or you can tell us what to do and we'll-"

"No. It'll take too long. Just let me down." Steve ducked under water and Tony slid off, the water skimming the bottom of the reactor. He took deep breaths, trying not to pass out, and waded/stumbled over to the panel. He started to type, feeling the water rising. He figured out there were 3 barriers on the panel, three passwords he had to figure out before the door would open. The water was up to his chin by the time the got the first and easiest one done. He was halfway through the second one when the water was too high for him to reach the panel. He had to go under, but he couldn't. He just couldn't. But he had too. He took a shaky deep breath and went under. He finished the second one in one breath, and by the time he went up for air the water was about 2 feet of room left for the water to rise before they would all drown. He got his breath and went back down, almost finishing the last code, but when he came back for another breath, he realised there wasn't enough room to take one. He started to choke. He was drowning. He looked around for his team, and they were all staring encouraged at him, holding their last breath. He managed to sink back down to the panel, type in the last 2 digits, and the door opened, sending the water and heroes alike flowing out of the room.

Steve took a deep breath. Finally. His lungs screamed with joy as the air filled them.

Clint gasped. He couldn't have lasted another minute in there. Thank God for Tony.

Natasha breathed. She looked around and checked on her team, missing Stark.

Bruce struggled. He had nearly drowned. He hoped his favorite billionaire was okay.

Thor smiled. They had made it. All was okay, but where was friend Anthony?

Tony sunk into unconsciousness. Water was in his lungs and he still couldn't breath.

Tony woke up surrounded by his friends. He started throwing up water, but hey, it was better than breathing it. He was being hit hardly on the back and he heard yelling, his head to clouded to think clearly. He felt a mask being slipped over his face as soon as the water was done being projected from his stomach and lungs.

He woke up again in a hospital. He heard the steady, comforting beep and felt an IV on his arm. A bandage was on his head and a mas was over his mouth and nose, giving him air. Finally, SHIELD had rescued them. His team was right by his side. He slid his oxygen mask off and coughed. He spoke softly and raspy.

"Hey." They all turned to him. No one knew what quite to say. Peter had shown up at some point too, hearing about what happened. Clint spoke first.

"Man, can I just say, you are the awesomest person I know? Okay, so first, you distract Steve from a panic attack by telling stories about Howard, who now we know why you don't like to talk about. Next, you save Widow from freaking out by signing. Singing, dude. That was amazing and clever and just, wow. Next, you save my butt by hugging me, which has _never_ happened before. You hate hugs! Any human contact wigs you out, man! And I get it dude, but you hugged me anyway! Then you sat there making yo mama jokes, like, where do you even come up with this stuff? That was perfect. Dude, then, literally while we were all kidnapped and going insane, you made us all play marco polo. Do you see your hands? That's from being in the dark right? You hate the dark. You know how many times it was dark in there? Like, all the time. And you still joked and made us feel better! When you were freaking out yourself! Then the whole Thor thing, you did have a concussion by the way. I know you hate anything and anyone concerned about your health. You hate being taken care of. And you literally snuggled with Thor for, like, two hours, and let him think you were helpless and hurt. You. Are. Brilliant. And dude… you risked your life. When we were all freaking out when we were facing our fears, but we had you. And when you were facing your fears, you tried to joke and stuff, but when you started to have a panic attack, we didn't know what to do! And you literally jumped into the water- your greatest fear- and saved us. What the heck?! You're like my idol, dude. Man, what I'm trying to say, and what I think we can all agree on… is thanks. Dude, thank you so much." Tony didn't know what to say. The greatest part was it was all true. It wasn't a lie like he told Cap or Thor, it wasn't an escape like he had used with Clint or Natasha, it wasn't a thing to help forget like Bruce. It was all real tangible proof. It was the truth. He leaned back in the bed.

"Huh." They looked at him with a mixture of relief and pride. "Well, that happened." He looked at them and grinned. "You're welcome." He slipped back on the mask, then looked out the window. It was night time. He pulled it back off "You guys should go to sleep." They all relaxed into their chairs smiling.

Fury walked in the door, probably about to yell at them, or ask for a debriefing, or something super spy related, but he saw them all actually comfortable and turned to leave. Tony stopped him.

"Hey, eyepatch. You can turn off the light." The room was submerged in darkness, and instead of panicking, Tony slept.


End file.
